About a little bit of everything and a lot about nothing

Month: March 2015

I discovered this recipe a few Christmases ago and made them for gifts for family. Ever since they have been a staple for baking at my house. These truffles look very pretty in a clear bag with ribbon around it as a gift just make sure that they stay cool as they could melt.

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On a snowy Sunday afternoon I decided to go out of my comfort zone and try to bake bread. I found recipe that looked fairly easy: Italian Bread

And decided to kick it up a notch and roast garlic to put into the dough. It did turn out fairly good (hopefully I didn’t annoy the people downstairs with the pungent garlic smell) Boiled some vinegar and water to try to take away some of the garlic. I think it worked quite well.

It was definitely a success in my house as I finished baking it an hour ago and as I am typing this there is about half a loaf left (it made 2 loaves) and a very happy husband. 🙂

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I LOVE cinnamon buns but I hate how long it takes to make them… its not the bake time that’s annoying its the waiting for the dough to rise before rolling it our and putting it in the oven. It takes less time for my husband and I to consume them then it does to make them. They are so delicious. While the recipe is called “Make Ahead” and you can actually prepare them the night before, they start smelling so good that we can’t wait.

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﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿I love the thrill of finding a bargain. It is so satisfying to look at the bottom of the receipt and see in bold numbers the amount you saved. I think about all the things I can buy with the money I have left over. Thats another blog post. Todays post is about frugal shopping, finding things that are half off and almost expired. The other day I saw all these fruits and veggies that said they were almost expired or looked not quite in there prime. I bought them and decided to fill my freezer. It took about a half hour to prep the food and freeze them. I bought a big bag of lemons and chopped them different ways so when I need a slice of lemon for my rum and coke I have one or if I want to make lemon cake. The onions come in handy for stir frys and grilled cheese sandwhiches. The bags of shredded cabbage, brocoli abd carrot are great for stir frys, borscht or any soup. There are many other things you can find and prep which will save you $$. Spinach, meats, berries are just a few other foods that if you find a great deal you can stock up and save.

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For a few months I worked in a bakery where my main jobs were to wash dishes, help customers and occasionally bake cookies… Sounds glamorous, I know. My brother just turned 25 so I decided to try to make a fancy cake like I watched my manager do so many times. I had a couple challenges that I had to overcome while baking it.

– ran out of icing after the top (I put quite a bit of icing between the two layers)

– the cakes got stuck in the pans and some of the bottom cake came off

– the cake was crumbly came came apart when I was icing the cake

So I improvised. I melted some chocolate chips and glued on chocolate bark which I had made yesterday.

I then put some of the melted chocolate in a plastic bag and cut the corner off and wrote on the cake.

Although I had a couple challenges, I am quite impressed with how the cake actually turned out.

I look forward to improving my baking skills and eventually making really fancy cakes.

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2015 has been a challenging and exciting year. I have quit a job, agreed to start a new one, took 3 weeks and packed up everything we could into a truck and a car (which we towed) said goodbye to family and friends and moved halfway across the country. Started a new job then found a place to live. Once we moved in, had a rocky start with people downstairs (which we are still adjusting too) and now 6 weeks into my job I am finally starting to relax and get back to my old hobbies (baking). Today after work I was able to bake something that I love doing but I haven’t had the time and/or energy to do for a while. And then I enjoyed a cookie and tea using my brand new (surprise!) polka dot cup. Who knew the dollar store would carry such cute cups 🙂 anyway I have included the recipe which I borrowed from Betty Crocker:

Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip Cookies

Prep Time1 hr 5 min

Total Time1 hr 5 min

Servings42

Ingredients

1 1/2

cups packed brown sugar

1

cup butter or margarine, softened

1

teaspoon vanilla

1

egg

2

cups quick-cooking oats

1 1/2

cups all-purpose or unbleached flour

1

teaspoon baking soda

1/4

teaspoon salt

1

cup semisweet chocolate chips (6 oz)

1

cup chopped nuts, if desired

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Just before I went off to college my mom made me a recipe book filled with all my favourite mom recipes. The most used one is called “no touch” meatloaf﻿ because I hated touching any meat in fear of making myself sick. I have outgrown that fear but I haven’t outgrown the recipe. It works well with ground beef or venison and I’m sure it would work with any other ground meat (turkey, pork, chicken, moose) This recipe is quick and tasty.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground meat

1/2 package onion soup mix

1/2 cup quick oats

1 egg, beaten

1 minced garlic clove or 1/2 tsp garlic powder or garlic plus

Directions:

Slit package of meat with knife and slide meat into large bowl. Add all ingredients and mash together with potato masher until well mixed. Spoon into loaf pan and press down making a ‘ditch’ in the middle. Bake at 350 degrees F until done (about 40 mins) Pour off excess grease around edges (watch it’s hot)